Maryland’s US Senate Candidates Held A Debate Thursday Night

It was produced by Maryland Public Television.Photo from Maryland Public TelevisionOwings Mills, Md (KM) The two candidates for Maryland’s US Senate seat held a debate Thursday night. Both Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who is the County Executive for Prince George’s County, and Republican and former Governor Larry Hogan discussed a number of issues. One of them was reproductive freedom which include IVF, (In vitro- fertilization)., a woman’s right to choose and contraceptives. Alsobrooks said she will fight for woman’s right to choose if she’s elected to the Senate.”What we recognize in this election, a woman’s right to choose is on the ballot,” she said. “What we know is that the former governor is a person who vetoed an important abortion care legislation, and also vetoed important legislation that would have created a simple ban on ghost guns, and would have disallowed long guns and created a waiting period.””I will support and will sponsor codifying Roe. I’ve said that from the beginning,” Hogan said in response. “When I was governor, and when I ran for governor, I promised to support women’s access to abortion and I delivered on that promise for eight years.””Roe” is Roe vs.. Wade,  a decision issued  by the US Supreme Court in 1973 which said women have the right to seek an abortion.  The current Supreme Court overturned it in 2022.He also said the abortion bill  he vetoed would have allowed  persons other that doctors and physician’s assistant the authority to perform abortions.Another issue that came up was Social Security. Hogan said he worked throughout hie eight years as governor to reduce taxes. “I cut taxes eight years in a row by $4.7 billion for hardworking Marylanders, for low income Marylanders with the earned income tax credit; for small businesses. and for retirees. We fought for eight years to eliminate retirement taxes and finally passed that in my last year. My opponent wants to raise taxes on Social Security which is not going to make things more affordable,” he said..Alsobrooks responded. “By the way, I don’t proposed raising taxes on anyone who earns under $400,000. The truth of the matter is we’re going to have to save Social Security. For people like my aging parents, Social Security is a lifeline. By 2035, it’s due to run out of money. And raising the cap for those earning over $400,000 to save Social Security is going to be really important,” she said.During her campaign, Alsobrooks has been dealing with revelations that she received tax credits she was not entitled to on properties in Washington DC and Maryland. She addressed that question during the debate. “I have always paid my taxes, always. And I also stood up for my grandmother. When she needed to leave her house, I took over her mortgage. I paid her mortgage until I sold the house about six years ago, and never knew she had a senior tax credit because I never applied for one. When I learned about, I reached out to the DC government and I have paid the amount of that tax credit and I’m working to pay off the interest,” Alsobrooks says.Hogan said the issue should not be a concern for voters this year. “The County Executive Alsobrooks has said she didn’t apply for the tax credit. She said that she paid off her grandmother’s  mortgage. She also took out her own mortgages and swore and attested on those documents that it was going to be her primary residence which it wasn’t. She did get a tax break that was meant for low incomes seniors and she is not a low income senior,” Hogan said.The candidates also addressed the issue of divisiveness and partisanship in the country. Hogan said he acts independently, and sometimes that’s put him at odds with his party. “I think what we need desperately in Washington are people that are willing that have the courage to put country over party, and to put people over politics and to stand up to the leaders of their party,”: he said. “I don’t think there’s anyone in America who has done that more than me. And I’ve never been afraid; and I never will be; and I’ve never back down. I’m one of the only ones in my party who can say that.”Alsobrooks said if Hogan claims to be an independent, he would not be running as a Republican. “What we know is no matter what former governor Hogan says today, he would empower a caucus of people who will take our country backward, putting Lindsay Graham over the Judiciary Committee; putting over Ted Cruz over the Science Committee who’s science and climate denier. It is that he would empower a caucus that’s against our values,”; she said.The debate was produced by Maryland Public Television. It was moderated by Chuck Todd from NBC News. The panelists were Jeff Salkin, a news anchor for MPT, Deborah Weiner, a news anchor for WBAL-TV in Baltimore, and Tracee Wilkins, an investigative reporter for WRC-TV in Washington.By Kevin McManus